How to Pronounce French Vowels

Learn the pronunciation of French pure vowels

This tutorial presents an overview of the rules of European/metropolitan French pronunciation,
focusing on the vowels, consonants, stress, and intonation patterns that
are different from American English. For more practice with comprehension
and pronunciation, please check the listening and repetition exercises.

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Pure Vowels

Vowels in French are pure vowels, i.e. they are not diphthongs as in
American English. Americans pronounce a and e with an extra yuh sound
at the end, and o and u with an extra wuh sound at the end. You
must not do this in French. The distinction between long and short vowels
exists in French, but a few American short vowels do not exist ([ɪ]
as in did and [ʊ] as in put) so make sure to never
pronounce these vowels when speaking (European) French.

Vowels in Contrast

Long Vowels

Short Vowels

Similar English

[a]

[ə]

not - nut

[i]

----

sheep

[e]

[ɛ]

wait - wet

[o]

[ɔ]

coat - caught

[u]

----

moon

Words in Contrast

[a] - [ə]

rapporter

reporter

[e] - [ə]

des mains

demain

[e] - [ɛ]

pré

près

[o] - [ɔ]

paume

pomme

On the other hand,
French has three front rounded vowels that do not exist in English, which
may take a while to get used to since English only has back rounded vowels.
However, they are the rounded counterpart of vowels that do exist in English,
so you simply need to round your lips when pronouncing these vowels.

Vowels in Contrast

Unrounded

Rounded

[i]

[y]

[e]

[ø]

[ɛ]

[œ]

Many English speakers tend to say [u] instead of [y] and [ə] instead
of [ø] or [œ]. Personally,
I still find it hard to hear the difference between [ø] and [œ] in
fast speech, but I can distinguish them if they are isolated vowels.

Words in Contrast

[u] - [y]

sous

su

[ə]
- [ø]

ce

ceux

[ø] - [œ]

jeûne

jeune

Here is a review of the vowels in French, with phonetic spellings for American
English speakers (forget the diphthongs though!), sample words in French
and the general spelling for these vowels in French orthography.

Pure Vowels

IPA

Phonetic spelling

Sample words

General spellings

[i]

ee

vie, midi, lit, riz

i, y

[y]

ee rounded

rue, jus, tissu, usine

u

[e]

ay

blé, nez, cahier, pied

é, et, final er and ez

[ø]

ay rounded

jeu, yeux, queue, bleu

eu

[ɛ]

eh

lait, aile, balai, reine

e, è, ê, ai, ei, ais

[œ]

eh rounded

sœur, œuf, fleur, beurre

œu, eu

[a]

ah

chat, ami, papa, salade

a, à, â

[ɑ]

ah longer

bas, âne, grâce, château

a, â

[u]

oo

loup, cou, caillou, outil

ou

[o]

oh

eau, dos, escargot, hôtel

o, ô

[ɔ]

aw

sol, pomme, cloche, horloge

o

[ə]

uh

fenêtre, genou, cheval, cerise

e

[ɑ] is
disappearing in modern French, being replaced by [a]. Vowels
that do not exist in English are marked in blue.

Other rules to remember about pure vowels in French:

Vowels are pronounced slightly
longer when they are in the final closed syllable (a consonant follows
the vowels in the same syllable). For example, the vowel [i] in tir is
longer than the vowel [i] in tirer because tir is a closed
syllable, while ti is an open syllable (and rer is a
closed syllable).
This is represented with a colon in IPA: long [i] = [i:]

The vowel [e] can only occur in open syllables (no consonant
follows it in the same syllable) in French. In closed syllables, [ɛ] is
used; however, [ɛ] can also be found in open syllables.
(This is a major difference with English as [ɛ] can
never be found in open syllables at the end of a word.)

In stressed open syllables, only [ø] is
possible. In stressed, closed syllables, only [œ] is
possible, unless the syllable ends in [t], [tR], or [z] - in which case, [ø] can
occur. In unstressed syllables, whether open or closed, either vowel can
occur.

Generally, [o] always occurs in stressed open syllables,
and [ɔ] occurs
in stressed closed syllables. Nevertheless, [o] can also
occur in stressed closed syllables, depending on the spelling of the word:
when the letter o is followed by [m], [n], [z]; when the letters au are
not followed by [R]; and by the letter ô.